Los Angeles budget plan has $176M to combat homelessness

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti unveiled his $9.2 billion spending proposal Thursday, which includes plans to fight homelessness, fix mangled sidewalks and to close a $263 million shortfall.

He pointed to $176 million that he wants spent on housing and services for the homeless, although about $89 million of that would be covered by bond money issued under Proposition HHH, approved by voters last November. "We are here to end homelessness once and for all".

Mayor Eric Garcetti used his annual state of the city speech on Thursday to boast about some accomplishments and praise Los Angeles, while adding that "we also acknowledge it's an imperfect paradise".

Since 2014, we've helped 24,000 men, women, and children find safe homes - more than 9,000 in the past year alone.

Garcetti only made passing references to President Donald Trump's short tenure in the White House and the anger and fear its has brought to many in the city's immigrant communities.

Garcetti said his office also found additional revenue of about $160 million through projecting higher returns from taxes remitted by short-term rental company Airbnb and from renewals of franchise fee agreements.

According to KPCC, City Councilman Paul Krekorian, who chairs the city's budget and finance committee, raised concern over L.A.'s budgetary woes and the potential of cuts to various city programs.

Rather than directly attack Trump and denounce his policies, as many liberal politicians and some City Council members have done, Garcetti seemed to want to be nearly dismissive of the president, as if he could not impact or hurt Los Angeles.

Garcetti did not mention President Trump but vowed that Los Angeles would provide leadership - "be a model of moral leadership and bold action" - in the face of moves by Washington.

While it's unclear how federal cuts, if any, will impact the city, "we have to be ready for challenges that may come so we can protect services that our communities rely on, like neighborhood public safety programs, meals for seniors and assistance for victims of domestic violence", he said.

The Democrat told city leaders he's set a goal to rid Los Angeles of 20,000 guns in the next five years.

Although crime has risen in Los Angeles over the last three years, Garcetti focused only on the statistics that show it is falling so far in 2017, with overall crime having fallen 4 percent and homicides down 8 percent.

"I didn't really hear anything that I didn't already know", Lally said, adding that he and his staff were pouring over the budget to try to figure out what it meant for the department. "The LAPD will never act as a federal immigration force", Garcetti said, promising that other city agencies would follow suit.

Garcetti said the city plans to roll out an natural disaster warning system and touted initiatives to expand mass transit.

- The city will respond to all graffiti requests within a day. He also announced a program to cut costs for small filmmakers aimed at keeping jobs in the city.

The Times also notes that Garcetti is facing a $224 million budget deficit for the next fiscal year.

Get free real-time news alerts from the North Hollywood-Toluca Lake Patch.